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GSM/GPRS
SMS-Based GSM/GPRS
Remote Data-Logging System
Dogan Ibrahim, lecturer at the Near East University Cyprus, describes the design
of a microcontroller-based remote data logging system, where the collected data
is sent as SMS using a GSM/GPRS modem
A DATA LOGGER is an electronic
instrument used to collect information about
physical quantities in the real world. Data
loggers incorporate sensors which convert
physical quantities into electrical signals that can
be stored on a computer or on any other digital
medium. Among the commonly used sensors
are temperature, pressure, force, sound level,
flow, speed, position, relative humidity, wind-
speed, angle of rotation and so on.
In general, data loggers are either standalone
or PC-based. Standalone sensors are usually
small dedicated instruments with low power
operation and some form of non-volatile data
storage (e.g. an SD card). These data loggers
store data unattended over a period of time and
then the stored data are loaded into a PC for
offline analysis and graphing.
Some standalone data loggers incorporate
wireless communication modules such as RF
communications. The collected data in such
instruments can be uploaded to a PC in real-
time for analysis. Alternatively, the data can be
collected over a period of time and then the
complete package of data can be sent remotely
to a PC.
Standalone data loggers have the advantages
that they operate independent of a PC and,
because of their low power consumptions, they
can be powered from solar or wind energy
sources. In addition, they do not suffer from PC
Figure 1: Block diagram of the system
32  April 10 - Electronics World
GSM operator Carrier Frequency (MHz)
Orange/T-Mobile 1800/2100
O2 900/1800/2100
Vodafone 900/1800/2100
Table 1: GSM operators in the UK
breakdowns, communications noise or
communications failure.
PC-based data loggers rely on a local PC to
store the collected data. In such systems a data
logger instrument, equipped with required
sensors, collects data and sends it to a local PC
for storage. The data logger is under control of
the PC at all times. PC-based data loggers are
well suited to controlled environments such as
homes, offices and factories where the
operating conditions can easily be controlled and
the system can be attended to in case of failure.
This article describes the design of an SMS-
based data logger system. An example project is
given in detail in the paper where the ambient
temperature is read every hour and is sent to a
mobile phone as an SMS message. The
described system is a standalone data logger
and offers the following advantages:
 The system is independent of a PC for its
operation.
 Data collection is ubiquitous, where data can
be collected at any place and at any time as
Ownership
France Telecom
Telefonica
Vodafone
long as a mobile phone service is available.
 Data is sent without any loss using the reliable
SMS messaging service.
 Data can be sent to any number of recipients
by simply changing the mobile phone number
or by adding more numbers.
 Both the data logger and the recipients can
be mobile.
 Data sending period or the amount of data
sent can easily be changed in the program.
 The system is low power and can easily be
operated from a solar or wind energy source
in fixed location applications.
The GSM System
GSM (Global System for Mobile
Communications) is currently the most widely
used standard for mobile telephone systems in
the world. It is estimated that over 80% of the
mobile market uses the GSM standard, with
estimated 3 billion people across over 200
countries.
GSM is a cell-based (cellular) network where
mobile phones access the network by
connecting to the cell in their immediate
vicinities. GSM is based on an all-digital
technology. These networks operate in a
number of different carrier frequencies. In
Europe most networks operate at either 900 or
1800MHz. In most of Americas the carrier
frequency is either 850 or 1900MHz. In the UK
there are over 75 million subscribers. Table 1
shows the main GSM operators in the UK with
their frequency bands.
Other GSM operators, for example Virgin
Dogan:Mobile Europe cover template.qxd
Figure 2: SIM340Z
GSM/GPRS modem
Mobile, Asda Mobile, Tesco Mobile and others,
use services of the main operators. Some mobile
phones are designed to be quad-band and they
cover the frequencies 800/900/1800/1900MHz.
Such phones can be used in most countries.
Triband phones cover the frequency bands
900/1800/1900MHz and can be used in most of
Europe and Americas.
The transmission power in the handset is
limited to 2W in the 800/900MHz bands and to
1W in the 1800/1900MHz bands. The new 3G
standard phones use the frequency band
2100MHz. The GSM system was designed with
a moderate level of security where the subscriber
is authenticated using a pre-shared key and the
communication between the subscriber and the
network is encrypted.
The System’s Block Diagram
The block diagram of the designed system is
Figure 3: SIM340Z
functional block diagram
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LED State
OFF
64ms ON/800ms OFF
64ms ON/3000ms OFF
64ms ON/300ms OFF
shown in Figure 1. A semiconductor Table 2: LED showing the modem status
analogue sensor is used as the
temperature sensor. The microcontroller converts
the sensor output voltage from analogue to
digital. The GSM/GPRS modem is under the
control of the microcontroller. Standard AT
commands are used to communicate with the
modem and to send the temperature as an SMS
message to a mobile phone. A SIM card
provides the subscriber details to the system.
The temperature sensor used in the design is
a 3-pin LM35DZ type analogue semiconductor.
This sensor can be used to measure
temperatures in the range 0ºC to 70ºC. The
output voltage of the sensor is given by Vo =
10mV/ºC. So, for example, at 10ºC the sensor
output voltage is 100mV. Similarly, at 30ºC the
output voltage is 300mV.
A PIC16F887 type microcontroller is used in
the design (any other type of microcontroller
could also be used as long as it satisfies the
memory and I/O requirements). This is a 40-
pin RISC based microcontroller having 8192
bytes flash program memory, 368 bytes RAM
memory, 256 bytes EEPROM memory, 35 I/O
pins, 14 channel 10-bit A/D converter,
analogue comparator, USART, interrupt
capability, up to 20MHz operation, 3 timers
and watchdog timer, 2 comparators and low
GSM/GPRS
SIM340Z Function
Modem is OFF
GSM network not found
GSM network found
GPRS communication
power operation, among others.
The design makes use of the following
microcontroller features: 1060 bytes (12%) of
program memory, 153 bytes (41%) of RAM
memory, 3 digital I/O pins, 1 analogue input pin,
USART, interrupt (USART).
The modem used in the design is a SIM340Z
module (see Figure 2) manufactured by
SIMCOM. This is a quad-band GSM/GPRS
modem and offers 850/900/1800/1900MHz
operation, small footprint (40mm x 33mm x
2.85mm), low weight (8g), GSM 07.07 and
07.05 compatible, control via AT commands,
low power operation (3.4V-4.5V), SIM card
interface, keypad and LCD interfaces.
The SIM340Z modem is easily interfaced to a
microcontroller using only three serial
communication pins (TXD, RXD and RTS). The
modem provides signals to drive a SIM card
directly. In addition, an LED can be connected to
the modem to show the working status of the
modem (see Table 2). The modem also provides
a buzzer interface where a buzzer or a small
speaker can be connected to indicate an
incoming call. In addition, the modem provides
signals for a keypad and an LCD to be
connected for dedicated autonomous mobile
communication applications. A small connector
is provided on the modem for an external
antenna to be connected. Figure 3 shows a
functional block diagram of the SIM340Z
modem.
The SIM Card
The SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card is a
small (15mmx25mmx0.76mm) smart-card, used
to store the subscriber information and identify
of a subscriber to the cellular network. A user
can change handsets by simply removing the
SIM card from one phone and inserting it into
another phone.
The use of a SIM card is mandatory in a
mobile phone as it stores the International
Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number,
security authentication and ciphering
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GSM/GPRS
information, password (card PIN), phone book
details, log of sent and received messages,
received and dialled call log and so on. The card
has six pins and is usually held in a SIM card
holder (see Figure 4). Card pins have the
following definitions (as specified by the ISO
7816 standard):
Pin 1 (VCC): This pin provides the card’s power
supply. A SIM card is typically operated between
3V and 5V.
Pin 2 (RST): This is the RESET pin. A low-level
on this pin resets the card to a known state.
Pin 3 (CLK): This pin provides the card with the
clock signals. The clock is between 1 and 5MHz,
with a duty cycle between 40% and 60%.
Pin 4 (GND): This is the ground pin of card’s
power supply.
Pin 5 (VPP): This pin is not used anymore. It was
used to provide programming voltage required
to write and erase the card’s internal non-volatile
memory.
Pin 6 (I/O): This is the input and output pin of
the card. Half-duplex asynchronous serial
communication is used to read and write data to
the card.
When the card contacts are activated, the RST
pin is held at a low level and the VCC supply is
Figure 5: Circuit diagram of the system
applied. After maintaining the RST signal at a
low state for at least 40,000 clock cycles, it is
raised to a high state and communication with the card starts by driving the I/O line while the important to note that the modem operating
RST is held high. voltage is between 3.5V and 4.5V, with a
recommended typical value of 4V. The power
The Circuit Diagram supply should be capable of providing up to 2A
The circuit diagram of the designed system is current which may be required in transient
shown in Figure 5. The microcontroller interface operations.
is extremely simple. An 8MHz crystal is used as
the clock source. The temperature sensor is The Construction
connected to analogue input AN0 of the The system was constructed using an EasyPIC
microcontroller. USART serial input pin RXD 5 microcontroller development board, together
(RC7) and TXD (RC6) are connected to the TXD with a Smart GSM/GPRS development board.
and RXD pins of the SIM340Z modem Both development boards are developed and
respectively. manufactured by mikroElektronika. EasyPIC 5,
The RTS input of the modem is driven by port shown in Figure 6, is a popular, highly versatile,
pin RC2. This pin should be forced Low when general-purpose, microcontroller development
the modem is operated using only the TXD and board which offers support for 8, 14, 18, 20, 28
RXD pins. The SIM card is connected to the and 40-pin PIC microcontrollers; USB 2.0 on-
modem via current limiting resistors where the board programmer via PC; mikroICD in-circuit
modem provides the power supply voltage, I/O, debugger; 4 digit 7-segment display in
CLK and RST inputs. The LED status output pin multiplexed mode; 36 LEDs; 36 push-button
(NETLED) of the modem is connected to an LED switches; RS232 interface; text and graphics
through a transistor switch circuit. An RF based LCD; touch-screen controller; USB and
antenna supplied with the modem is connected PS/2 connectors; and removable crystal.
to the antenna socket of the modem. The The USB based in-circuit debugger (mikroICD)
microcontroller can be reset via its MCLR input is extremely useful during the development and
using an external push-button switch. Similarly, debugging of complex programs. With the help
the modem can be reset via its PWRKEY input of a high-level software compiler, programmers
using an external switch. can set breakpoints, single-step an application
The PWRKEY input should be held Low for at program, or can display the variables as the
Figure 4: A typical SIM card holder
least four seconds to re-start the modem. It is program is running.

34  April 10 - Electronics World

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A GSM/GPRS
development board
(www.mikroe.com),
shown in Figure 7, was
used to provide the
modem functionalities. This
board offers support for
five different GSM modems,
SIM card holder, antenna
holder, audio amplifier and
audio interface with
microphone and speaker,
RS232 interface for PC or
microcontroller interface, LED
showing the modem status,
interface signals on 10-way
connectors for easy interface
to microcontroller
development systems.
The SIM340Z modem card is mounted on the
GSM/GPRS development board (to the bottom
centre part) with its antenna attached at the
side of the board. PORT C of the EasyPIC 5
development board was connected to modem
terminals of the GSM/GPRS board via a 10-way
ribbon cable, as in Figure 8. Jumper J1 on the
GSM/GPRS board was set to select
communication with an MPU. The EasyPIC 5
board was powered from the USB port of a
PC (laptop), while the GSM/GPRS board was
powered from an external 12V mains adaptor.
The AT Commands
The AT commands are used to control Figure 7: GSM/GPRS
the operations of modems. These development board
commands were first developed for the
Hayes Smartmodem 300 in late 1970s.
An AT command consists of the letters “AT”,
followed by a number of characters specifying
the command tail. Some commands are used to
set the configuration of modems, some are used
to interrogate modems and get their
configurations, while some other commands are
used to dial numbers, send SMS messages and
so on.
In addition to the standard AT command set,
the SIM340Z GSM/GPRS modem supports
commands to configure the modem and send
SMS messages to mobile phones. Table 3 gives
AT Command
AT+CMGF
AT+CMCS
AT+CSCA
AT+CMGS
AT+CSMP
Table 3: SIM340Z modem SMS commands
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Figure 6: EasyPIC 5 microcontroller
development board
a list of the important AT commands available
for sending an SMS message (further
information can be obtained from the SIMCOM
SMS Application note AN_SMS_V1.01).
There are two ways of sending and receiving
SMS messages using AT commands: by PDU
(Protocol Description Unit) mode and TEXT
mode. The PDU mode offers to send binary data
in 7-bit or 8-bit mode and is helpful for sending
compressed data or binary data. PDU mode data
consists of hexadecimal string of characters,
including the SMS service centre, sender
number, time stamp etc.
SMS Function
Select SMS message format
Select SMS character set
SMS service centre address
Send SMS message
Set SMS text mode parameters
GSM/GPRS
In this project, the easier Text mode has been
used. An SMS text message can consist of
alphanumeric characters with up to 160
characters long with 7-bit coding and 140
characters long with 8-bit coding. Basically, SMS
is a store-and-forward type service where the
messages are not sent directly from the sender
to recipient but via an SMS Service Centre
(SMSC). Mobile telephone networks have
messaging centres that handle the delivery of
messages to their destinations. There is by
default no confirmation of the delivery of a
message. But users can turn ON this option so
that a confirmation of delivery can be sent to
the sender when a message is delivered
successfully.
Sending an SMS message in Text mode is very
easy and an example is given below that shows
how the message “Hello there!” can
be sent to mobile number
“123456890”, assuming that
the SMS service centre
number has already been
loaded to the SIM card, which
is the case by default, and that
there is no PIN associated with
the card:
 Set SMS mode to Text:
AT+CMGF=1
 Set the character mode to GSM:
AT+CSCS=”GSM”
 Set the SMS parameters:
AT+CSMP=17,167,0,241
 Set the recipient mobile phone
number and the text message:
AT+CMGS=”1234567890”
> Hello there! [Cntrl-Z]
Note that after sending the recipient mobile
phone number, the modem responds with
character “>” and that the message must be
terminated with the “Cntrl-Z” character.
It is worthwhile to look at briefly the meaning
of the various SMS parameters set by command
CSMP. The format of this command is (further
information can be obtained from the AT
command interface document):
AT+CSMP = <fo>, <vp>, <pid>, <dcs>
Field <fo> is set to 17, which indicates that
the message is to go from a mobile device to a
service centre and the <vp> field is valid.
Field <vp> selects the message validity period
and a value between 144 to 167 selects the
period as:
12 hrs + ((vp – 143) x 30 min)
With a setting of 167, the message validity
period is:
12 hrs + (167 – 143) x 30 min) = 24 hrs
Field <pid> is used to indicate the higher layer
protocol being used and is set to 0 here.
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GSM/GPRS
Figure 8: The test system showing EasyPIC 5
connected to the GSM/GPRS board
Figure 9: PDL description of the software
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Field <dcs> is used to determine the way
the information is encoded. This field is set to
241 which sets the message class to 1 and
uses the default alphabet. Note that setting
the message class to 0 causes the message to
be displayed immediately without being stored
by the mobile phone, this is also called a flash
message.
Modems commands normally return status
and error codes in response to AT commands.
It is important that any software sending
control codes to a modem should check these
return codes to make sure that the modem
has been configured and responded with no
errors. Most successful commands return the
two character code “OK”.
The Software
The software was developed using the
mikroC compiler. This is a popular
microcontroller C language compiler
developed by mikroElektronika. mikroC
language supports a large variety of interface
devices and protocols, and provides built-in
library of functions for devices such as SD
card, CompactFlash card, I2C bus, RS232
and RS485, LCD, USB, CAN bus and so on.
Figure 9 shows operation of the software
using a PDL (Program Description Language)
type description.
At the beginning of the program the digital
and analogue I/O ports are configured, various
constant character strings such as the AT
commands and mobile phone number used in
the program are declared. The main program
forces the modem RTS pin to 0, configures the
analogue input channel AN0 and enables the
USART interrupts.
The USART is initialised with a Baud Rate of
19200 and a loop is formed to force the modem
Baud Rate to this value. The program then sets
the modem into Text mode with GSM character
code, 24-hour message validity period and the
message class of 0. Then the program enters an
endless loop where the temperature is read
every hour and sent to the specified mobile
phone as an SMS text message. The
temperature is read from analogue channel AN0,
converted into millivolts and then divided by 10
to find the actual physical temperature in oC.
USART interrupts are used to receive the
modem responses. A response can be “OK” or
“RDY” and is terminated with a carriage-
return and line-feed character pair. After
sending an AT command, the program waits
until a successful response is received from the
modem.
The software developed in this project can be
improved by the following modifications:
 Several temperature readings can be collected
and then sent at the same time using one
SMS message.
 The SMS messages can be sent in response to
a request from the recipient. Thus data can
be collected and received whenever required.
 A flash memory (e.g. an SD card) can be
added to store the collected data.
 GPRS mode or FTP can be used to send large
amount of data.
 An RTC chip can be added to the system to
time-stamp the collected data. 
Figure 10: A typical message
sent to a mobile phone